Drummoyne Hartley TS16's wrap up season

by Renee Johnson on 30 Mar 2010 The Hartley TS16 fleet of Drummoyne Sailing Club finished their season with some close racing in gusty southerly conditions on Saturday 27th March 2010.

The final scratch race of the season saw competition between Pelican (Joe Horinek) and Tranquil (Neil Johnson) for the Summer Point Score title and Charlie Brown (Sandor Tornai, normally skippered by Justine Tornai) and Tranquil for the Season Point Score title.

On a crowded start line, Charlie Brown got a good start along with Uncle Roy (Eric Partland) who had earlier in the season wrapped up the Club Championship.

Tranquil meanwhile was battling it out with DC (Robert Speedy) and Murphy's Law (Graham Bevan) but soon managed to make a break and set about chasing down the leaders.

The narrow southerly course that takes in Snapper and Spectacle Islands and provides long off the wind stretches down to Tarban Creek saw tight bunching in the middle section of the fleet and made it difficult for boats to get clear water. Eventually, with some competitive sailing, Trevor Bell in Vinca (previously The Ambulance) made significant headway and looked threatening in the final stages of the race.

After frequent changes to the lead, Charlie Brown established dominance over Uncle Roy and held the lead to cross the finish line first. Uncle Roy crossed in second followed by Tranquil in third, Vinca in fourth and Murphy's Law in fifth.

Charlie Brown's first placing was enough to secure a narrow win over Tranquil and take out the Season Point Score while Tranquil's third placing resulted in the Summer Point score title.

This season has produced some of the closest racing in recent history and has highlighted the strength of competition (particularly that of the female crew members) provided by the Hartley Division at Drummoyne.

With the close of the regular sailing season, a large portion of the Drummoyne fleet are now preparing to do battle once more at the NSW State Titles at the South Lake Macquarie Sailing Club (Sunshine) over the Easter long weekend. Good luck to all!